


Join Me

by whenitcounts33



Series: New Beginning [1]
Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Gen, No Beta, One Big Happy Family, new moon and eclipse if victoria wasn't the villain, what Meyer wanted the Cullens to be like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whenitcounts33/pseuds/whenitcounts33
Summary: Takes place after the time of the Port Angeles movie accident and before Bella buys the bikes.Bella knew something was wrong the minute she woke herself up screaming; her bedroom was cold, but that was normal - she left it open with the thought that maybe he would come back.  She squinted, brain working double time as her senses told her something is not right. Then it hit her, and hope flared up like a wildfire; all-consuming and ruinous. There was someone in her room, in the corner near her prehistoric computer, just standing here, blending in with the shadows.
Relationships: Past Edward Cullen/Bella Swan - Relationship, Riley Biers/Victoria
Series: New Beginning [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032243
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All rights to characters and story belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rights to characters and story belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

Bella knew something was wrong the minute she woke herself up screaming; her bedroom was cold, but that was normal - she left it open with the thought that maybe _he_ would come back. She squinted, brain working double time as her senses told her _something is not right_. Then it hit her, and hope flared up like a wildfire; all-consuming and ruinous. There was someone in her room, in the corner near her prehistoric computer, just standing here, blending in with the shadows. Bella’s mouth went dry, her heart beating faster as fear, the only emotion besides emptiness that she’s felt for a long time, settled in her veins like icy water. 

She went still as the shadow person peeled off the wall and stalked towards her, as smooth and graceful as any feline. The memory came unbidden, bringing with it a sharp pain that stole her breath away. The baseball game last March, the Hunter, searing pain in her hand, cracked glass and blood all around her. The name of the shadow left her mouth in no more than a gasp of strangled air.

“ _Victoria_.” The shadow stopped, red curls swinging around her shoulders. “Hello,” she said, her voice surprising Bella. It was high pitched, soft and girly, like a little girls. “You look awful,” she added, her comment not meant to hurt, merely an observation. Bella knew she looked awful; brown hair stringy and lack luster; all skin and bones; an empty look in her eyes at all times. She looked like a walking corpse, the irony wasn’t lost on her. Wasn’t she begging to become one of the walking dead just half a year ago?

The sound of Charlies snores came pouring into her room and Victoria’s head turned towards the sound, curious, like she’d forgotten someone else lived in this house. “Don’t hurt my dad,” Bella gasped, sitting up so suddenly it shocked both girls. Victoria’s head tilted, reminding Bella of a house cat before it pounced. “I was going to kill you,” Victoria tells her, and for some reason this does not scare Bella. She only hopes Victoria will stop with her and leave Forks for good, that Charlie will survive this even if she doesn’t.

“He left you, did he not?” She then asked, lips pursed, and the truth of the question, the fact that it wasn’t even a question because it was obvious, left Bella gasping in pain, clutching her sides like she could hold herself together. Victoria watched the action, watched the pain flare in Bella’s eyes, and felt sympathy. They had both been broken beyond repair by men, in some way, it seemed. Bella simply nodded and felt the burn of tears in her eyes, the lump forming in her throat, and nodded again.

Victoria made a small noise in the back of her throat, like the cooing sound Bella had heard Charlie make the first night she woke up screaming. The bed dipped suddenly, and Victoria was right there, red eyes bright around the black of her pupil. Bella was reminded of another vampire that was often in her bed in the middle of the night and a sob got stuck in her throat, making her breath hitch. “James was mean,” Victoria says, her little girl voice a soft whisper, as she leans forward slowly, like she didn’t want to scare Bella, and brushed a strand of hair from her wet cheek.

Her touch was ice cold and so achingly familiar Bella couldn’t help but lean into it, still crying and gasping for air, her lungs too stubborn to let her breath properly. “He hunted me for years,” the vampire continued, “I’m good at running away and he could never catch me, much to his chagrin. It became a game to him, while I just made sure that I survived the game.

After 3 years, I let him catch me once I realized I had a better chance of survival with him. He made me dependent on him, I was never good at hunting, never had a knack for it. He caught my food for me, so I ate when he decided I should. He bit me all the time,” her voice went softer, a soft hiss hidden in it. She pulled up the sleeve of her flannel and showed Bella her bone white skin. Bella could see the bite marks on her arm, the same as the one on her hand. “Oh,” Bella gasped, horror making her voice soundless.

Victoria nodded once, “Yes,” she murmurs, “Oh. Every time I disobeyed or spoke out of turn, he bit me. Vampire venom is the only thing that scars us, it was like he was marking his territory.” Victoria shuddered at the memory and Bella caught sight of a bite on her throat, right over he jugular. “I was mad when Edward killed him,” Victoria continued and Bella frowned, shaking her head, the name sending a burning pain through her body. “He didn’t,” she got out through clenched teeth.

Victoria froze, eyed widening, “I’m sorry?” she asked, polite and confused. “Edward,” she ground out the name, “isn’t the one who killed James. Emmett and Jasper did,” she said, her voice getting stronger with each word uttered. Victoria frowned, looking into Bella’s eyes, searching for something. She must have found it because the frowned turned into a scowl and Bella wondered if she would still kill her because she couldn’t get to Alice and Rosalie. Victoria seemed to understand the worry in Bella’s eyes because she snorted, the sound so unexpected and _normal_ , that Bella laughed. The sound was raspy and sounded weak and half deranged but it was a laugh and Bella clapped a hand over her mouth in surprise. Victoria raised her eyebrows and tilted her head again, “You’re strange for a human.” She said it indifferently, like she knew Bella might take it as a compliment but wanted her to know she hadn’t meant it with any certain meaning.

“Thanks,” Bella muttered, voice sarcastic, face scrunched up. Victoria touched Bella’s face lightly and the human girl held perfectly still, remembering the meadow with _him_ and how he told her he could crush her skull if he wasn’t careful enough. Was Victoria planning on killing her this way? If yes, she was being kind, talking to Bella, reminding her so much of the lost family that she had wanted so badly to be a part of. Having her skull crushed was a much better way to die than having Victoria suck her dry, her venom burning Bella from the inside-out.

Victoria surprised her by just wiping the tears from her wet cheeks, smiling softly when Bella just stared up at her in shocked silence. She was very beautiful, Bella realized, nothing like Rosalie, but beautiful in the way large, wild cats were beautiful. “I am not going to kill you,” Victoria tells her, slowly and carefully, making sure Bella understood her. Bella frowned, taking in a deep breath, confusion clouding her thoughts, but the worst of the fear left her, making her dizzy. “Why not?” She demanded, surprising both of them. _What the hell?_ The logical part of Bella demanded. _Do you want to die?_ The nonsensical part of her, the Edward-voice-junkie that led her to those drunk guys in Port Angeles, went silent because _no, we don’t want to die._

Victoria waited patiently, silent as she watched Bella screw her eyes shut, lips moving to form silent words. “Because” she said slowly, when Bella opened her eyes again. “You do not deserve to die for a crime you did not commit nor had any part of. Your Edward hurt you the same as my James hurt me. We are both stronger without them.” She said them simply, with no fanfare, like she had been thinking this over and knew she was right without any doubts.

Bella knew she was right, saw now how unhealthy her relationship with Edward had been. That didn’t make it any less painful, but it was better that she knew she was better off than spending the rest of her life depressed and waiting for someone that no longer wanted her. It amused her that this feral, feline like vampire was the one to get Bella to realize all of this.

“I came here” Victoria continued, “because, at first, I wanted you to suffer. Then you woke up screaming, and I heard your father wake up and then fall back asleep when the screaming stopped. I realized that this must happen frequently for him to not run in here and take care of you and it made me wonder if it was your Edward that made you wake up screaming. You no longer smell like him, you know, the way you did in the field last year. He left you here, him and his family who so gallantly protected you. You do not hate them though, do you?” Victoria studied her with red eyes that probed into Bella and the sympathy there, the concern that touched her in a way not even her mothers had been able to, broke something in Bella. The words poured out of her in a rush, like water from a broken dam.

“Jasper attacked me at my birthday party that I didn’t even want to have, but Alice made me have one and Edward made me go. They all got me presents, but none of them were actual good ones, you know? Except for Edward’s and Alice’s. Esme and Carlisle’s were pretty good, actually, but not practical at all. I got a papercut from opening their present and, I don’t know why, Jasper went ballistic. Edward threw me into the table and piano and the papercut turned into this huge gash on my arm and all the Cullens had to leave and Carlisle sewed me up and after that for the rest of the week Edward was distant, like he was already gone. He said some really hurtful things, I was catatonic for maybe 3 months after that. It was awful, I really scared my mom and dad,” she finished with a deep breath, face flushed and fingers trembling.

Victoria watched her, just waiting for a panic attack, something she knew humans had when they were running high on bad emotions. After a few moments, her heart slowed down, and Bella chewed on her lower lip. “I am very sorry that happened to you,” Victoria says, giving Bella a tiny smile that she reciprocated before running both hands through her hair, tugging slightly at the roots as she left out a huff of air, lips pursed. “Me too,” Bella mumbles, knowing that even though Victoria was being nice and friendly that she should be still be scared. She just couldn’t bring herself to be afraid. She knew, on some subconscious level that she didn’t understand, that Victoria would not hurt her.

The two girls stared at each other for a few seconds before Victoria seemed to come to some understanding with herself. “Let me change you,” she said in a quiet voice that let Bella know she was scared of asking this. “It’ll just be me and you,” she promises, the words coming from her mouth quickly, “we can help girls that have been hurt by men they believed loved them. It’ll be good for both of us, therapeutic. We’ll show them that we are _something_ without them in our lives, without their conditional love. Please, Bella,” she finished, eyes and voice pleading and then turned to stone as she waited for the other girl to say something. Anything. Bella stared at her, eyes wide and heart beating faster.

Turn her. Into a vampire. Victoria wanted to change Bella into a vampire. She wanted Bella with her, she wanted to help young girls who didn’t know better than to believe what a boy told them.

Bella swallowed hard, leaning forward to take Victoria’s ice-cold hand in hers and nodded once, smiling.

“Yes.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rights to characters and story belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

What she remembers: Fire burning every cell of her body, reforming and then burning again. Her heart, beating much too fast to be safe, pumping the fire through her body. Victoria speaking to her in a soft voice, crooning to her and brushing hands Bella can barely feel through her hair. _It’ll be over soon. I’m sorry. I remember how much it hurts._ The fire slowly starting to leave her body, starting with her toes and then her legs and torso. It dragged to her heart, hotter than before.

What she remembers: Edward. The soft venom in his honey voice. _I don’t want you anymore. I’m a good liar._ All of the Cullen's leaving. Leaving her. Her best friend Alice leaving without a goodbye, half a year of friendship gone because of a paper cut. Esme staring at her in mute horror, hand clasped over her mouth and eyes black with hunger. Jasper’s venom coated teeth snapping inches from her face, a ferocious snarl tearing from his throat. Carlie’s steady breathing as he stitched her better, Rosalie’s smug expression as she left the house, Emmett with her, a firm grip on Jasper. The fear ripping through her, a scream tearing from her sore throat when she woke up every night (when she wakes up two-days later, she remembers them, _him_ , with a soft hatred, understanding why they, _he_ , had to leave her but hating them, _him_ , for it).

What she remembers: When Bella woke up, it was with a gasp. Someone’s hand, skin warm and smooth, maybe soft, was holding hers.

What she remembers: Her body flying from the floor and into a corner, bent into a predatory position, protecting herself. Victoria watched her warily from where Bella originally was, hands held out in a placating gesture. She only noticed her with a part of her brain, the rest of her was focused on everything else. She could see, taste, smell everything. “Wow,” she breathed, and then froze, she could taste the dust motes on her tongue, and the tangy taste of leather and cotton. Her voice, though, that startled her. It was higher pitched, musical, like a bell, nothing like Victoria’s little girl’s voice.

*****************************

Bella loved running, going so fast everything should have blurred as it flew past her, her bare feet barely touching the ground. It felt like flying and for those first few days Bella and Victoria raced each other all the way from Washington to Canada and back again. Victoria let Bella hunt her own way, following closely so nothing went wrong. It felt weird, sinking her teeth into some homeless man’s throat, but the taste and feel of his blood kept her from thinking about it too much. Her eyes were still ruby red; she jumped in fright every time she saw them in a reflection. Victoria told her, after she stopped laughing at Bella, that they wouldn’t be so bright in a year.

It was after the third feeding – round of hunting? – that she bought the topic up to Victoria, nervously fingering the fringes of her yellow sweater. For the first month of her “new” life, she ripped hundreds of shirts and pants trying to get them on. She was so much stronger than the flimsy fabrics now.

“Do you think,” she began, smiling softly when Victoria swatter her fingers away from the sweater, “that we should change our eating habits?” She remembered the Cullen's, thoughts clouds and hazy, and their gold eyes and how they hunted animals, not humans.

Victoria arched a brow, head tilted, something Bella still associated with house cats. “What do you mean?” She asked and Bella swallowed, noting the dull burn in her throat, and sighed softly. “I think we should hunt animals.” She waited with bated breath as the words sunk in, Victoria’s mouth thinning and her eyes turning speculative. “Why do you think that?” she finally asked after 105 seconds of silence. Bella blew out a noisy breath of relief and launched into her explanation. How he – Bella never spoke about them by name and Victoria never questioned it, she just went with it – and the rest of his family had hunted animals, not humans, and that it left them much the same as her and Victoria. How he had hunted after the human predators for a time, how he stopped because he didn’t want to be a monster.

Victoria looked at Bella and Bella looked back, a silent conversation between the two of them going on. Victoria saw how Bella truly wanted this, how only feeding from any human that they found was slowly killing her. Bella saw how Victoria shied away from the thought of hunting animals but liked the idea of hunting down the predators, of making them suffer the way their prey did. Victoria nodded, reaching out her hand, and Bella immediately put her hand in hers, linking their fingers.

This, their relationship, was something Bella never had when she was human. Something she could have had with Alice, had it not been cut short. “We could try,” she says, and hope flares up and Bella throws herself at Victoria, the red-head yelping as the force of the tackle makes Victoria fly backwards, right into an old spruce that crashes to the ground with a loud groan.

“You’re an idiot,” Victoria laughs, fond, and Bella beams.

*****************************

Bella watched as Victoria paced back and forth, too fast for a human to see, too fast for Bella to watch without wincing as her feet makes permanent marks in the cement. “Vic,” Bella sighs, interrupted by the groan of the human boy lying in a pool of his own blood six-feet from where she perched.

Riley Biers.

Six-feet-three-inches of pure muscle. Not stocky like a football player, but lankier, like a swimmer. Sandy blond hair and a sharp jawline with high cheekbones. A beautiful boy, really. Victoria had stopped him from dying after feeding from his attackers; three assholes who jumped him and brutalized him and left him for dead. Victoria hunted them down and made them pay. Victoria had called up Bella, swearing and frantic, on the verge of a panic attack and Bella had rushed to her, worried about her sister.

“I can’t let him die, Bell,” Victoria sobbed, letting Bella tug her into a tight hug, red curls tickling her cheek. “I think he’s my mate,” she whispered a while after, having gotten Riley stabilized, the bleeding done for now, his ribs wrapped up nice and tight. Bella had taken a nursing class when they got to Seattle, after being in Canada for half a year, and felt sure enough in her skills that she knew Riley would last for a few more hours. Or until Victoria figured out what she wanted to do.

Bella glanced over at her best friend, brows raised, sympathy clear in her orange-amber eyes. “Why do you say that?” She asked, knowing she had to be the one to stay clinical, to not let her emotions or feelings get in the way of what needed to happen. She glanced down at Riley, at the shallow rise and fall of his chest.

“Because” Victoria sighed, running both hands through the snarled mass of red curls, “I could tell from the moment I heard him scream. It was killing me, knowing someone was hurting him, that he was in pain. Then I got to him and took one look at his face and it was like something clicked. Like I was missing something and didn’t realize until he was right there.”

Bella pressed her lips together and glanced down at Victoria. She placed her arms around the other woman, letting her lean against her for comfort. “Then change him,” she whispered. “If he feels the same way about you that you do about him when he wakes up. . ..” She trailed off, shrugging, Victoria hissed slightly when the motion jostled her head on Bella’s shoulder. She was thinking about it though, Bella knew, in the clinical, careful way that she thought.

“Do you really think so?” She asked, voice soft and shy and hesitant and Bella was surprised that her spitfire of a best friend was nervous about this human boy. Though, she supposed, this was certainly not a situation that anyone would be comfortable or sure in. She wondered if Carlisle was this nervous before creating another vampire to join his family. Was he this nervous, or was he self-assured, confident that he was making the right decision?

Victoria suddenly sat up straight, a gasp leaving her mouth and she flew the three-feet to Riley Biers, hands fluttering uselessly over him, eyes wide and frantic. Riley was watching her, cheeks bright red like he had a fever, his own eyes wide, lips parted like he wanted to say something, but Bella beat him to it. “Now or never, Vic,” she said, kneeling down on the other side of Riley, movements slow and deliberate so as to not frighten him. Victoria drew in a deep breath, wincing when the smell and taste of his blood surrounded her.

She told him about the change, about what Bella and Victoria did, how they tried to protect girls, and boys, from those who hurt them, who manipulated them for their own gain. How Riley had a choice: they could change him, turn him into a vampire; they could let him die, peacefully, with no pain; or they could bring him to a hospital.

Three days later, Riley Biers woke up as a vampire. Two months later Bella had to leave Seattle for a few days because she was not listening to Victoria and Riley have sex. No, she’d rather burn again.

*****************************

It was three months later when they met Bree Tanner. She was a tiny thing and Bella felt a maternal affection and a need to protect for the girl the minute she saw her. She was sitting in a corner, knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She was watching Bella and Bella was watching Bree.

Bella knew Bree was poor, that she had no real home life. She saw her nearly get into some creeps’ car because he offered to buy her dinner for a blowie. Thank god Bree had the good sense to realize she’d probably end up with some disease if she did this and said no. Bella would have thrown up if she could. She settled for draining the guy dry and leaving him in the alley she found him in.

Three days later she saw Bree again and this time Bella got her lunch; a turkey sandwich from a Deli Bree likes, with a bag of Taki’s and a strawberry shake from a McDonald’s down the street. Bella also bullies Bree into drinking two bottles of water.

After, when Bree asks why Bella did this, the woman could only shrug, not truly knowing. “You look like you could use the meal and that you don’t know a lot of people who would buy you lunch.” Bree had smiled at that, tentative and as pretty as the sun after a long day of rain. Bella promises herself she’ll buy Bree lunch, or any meal, whenever they see each other.

It’s a month later when Bree’s father dies, and the poor girl is homeless. Bella gets a call from a payphone and rushes to Bree, pulling the crying girl into a tight hug that steals the breath from Bree’s lungs (Bella finally realizes how easily Edward could have killed her when she holds Bree’s fragile, human body in her arms).

Riley and Victoria are with her, standing a few feet back so as to not frighten the girl – neither admit it’s because Bree smells good and Riley is still too new to be trusted so close to a human he wasn’t planning on feeding from. Victoria watches the fond look grow in Bella’s eyes, the way she brushes a lock of black hair from the girl’s forehead, the way the girl doesn’t flinch away from Bella’s alien touch.

Bella hadn’t flinched away from Victoria’s touch, but Bella was weird and something different was going on in her brain, so she couldn’t really fault her for that.

Riley tugged her closer, tight against his side and Victoria smiled at the familiar flash of heat that went through her body, snuggling into his side and wrapping her arms around his waist. He wasn’t breathing too much, she knows, even knowing Bella and Victoria would never let him hurt someone he shouldn’t. Could never be too careful. “D’you think Bells will change her?” He whispered, low enough anyone that could walk by would have no chance of hearing. Bella, of course, hears him though, and stretches her arm out behind her to flash Riley the finger, making him shake with suppressed laughter.

“Maybe,” Victoria murmurs, resting her head against Riley’s shoulder and listens to Bella ask Bree about her classes at school, listens to Bree go on and on and on about a short story she’s writing for her English class. “We just finished Macbeth though, so she has to give us the test before we really get into the stories. My teacher told me I wrote the best essay in all her classes,” she gloats and Bella beams, proud as any mother. “You’ll have to let me read it,” Bella says and Bree nods eagerly, “’Course,” she promises.

Neither Victoria or Riley is surprised when Bella changes Bree and the two are joined at the hip, Bree always holding onto Bella’s hand and Bella always smoothing down Bree’s hair.

Bella lays at night, Bree curled up against her side as she softly reads from a book of poems by Audre Lorde. Victoria has her head in Riley’s lap, his fingers carding through her wild curls, both listening to Bree’s soft voice.

“ _In the blood in the bone over coffee/ before dashing for elevators going/ in opposite direction without goodbyes_ ,” she reads out loud and Bella smiles, closing her eyes.

She finally has her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poem used: Movement Song by Audre Lorde


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rights to characters and story belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

Alice hated sunny days, hated being stuck inside when she didn’t want to go hunting or running. There was an America’s Next Top Model marathon on, but Alice remembered everything and that made re-watching shows tedious and boring. She closes her eyes instead, focusing on her gift instead and letting it settle over her like a blanket.

Alice had promised Edward that she wouldn’t look into Bella’s future, and Alice tried. Truly, she did. But sometimes her abilities showed her things that she didn’t need, want, to see. Like when, before she and Jasper had joined the Cullens, she had gotten a sneak peak of Rose and Emmett’s sex life. There had been feathers and Alice swore Rose had been topping.

This time, the intrusion was about someone Alice had considered her sister before her brother ruined everything. She saw Bella, a vampire now, running through a forest, on the heels of a small black-haired girl, laughing. Victoria, Alice always thought of the red-head with a shudder, was behind the pair with a tall boy, smiling fondly.

She remembered when she first saw how Bella’s future was spiraling out of control, leaving the tight confines Edward had tried to force it into. The first of them had been Victoria in Bella’s room, Bella saying yes and her screams as the venom turned her.

The only person who knew of the vision was Jasper. Edward had been in Chicago then, when he finally came back to the family Alice and Jasper couldn’t even think Bella’s name around him out of fear he would find out. Bella finally looked happy and Alice would be dammed if Edward ruined her life _again._

The second vision was of Bella as a vampire, playing in the meadow Edward had loved so much with Victoria, both girls laughing. Alice had been jealous, of course she was, Bella was supposed to be _her_ sister. It was supposed to be Bella and Alice playing around and laughing, not Victoria and Bella.

Edward let out a horrified gasp and Alice looked up in shock, thrown out of the vision with enough force she’s dizzy, staring at her brother who was gaping in horror. “Bella,” he ground out between clenched teeth, before turning and racing out of the house before Alice could even form a thought.

“Fuck,” she mutters, before racing after him, following the trail his scent leaves behind, trying to see what he’s going to do.

She can see Edward standing in front of Victoria, Bella and the boy standing right next to her, teeth bared. The small girl was right behind Bella, out of Edwards line of sight. 

“Guess we both have a type, huh Bell?” The boy would say after a moment of tense silence. Edward pounces, right for Victoria, a ferocious snarl leaving his mouth, and Alice put on a burst of speed, dead set on making sure the altercation never happened.

**************

Bella thinks there in Canada, she didn’t really pay attention to the borders and Victoria only told her if Bella asked (begged). She knew they were no longer in New York; they’d been running too long to still be in the state. The tree she just passed _kind of_ looked familiar, but every tree looked the same to her.

Bree was running, racing Bella, only faster than the older girl because of the last of her extra newborn strength. Bella was right at her heels, groaning when Bree used all of her strength to fly past Bella, putting 40 extra yards between them. “Winner has to eat a squirrel,” Bree randomly says, making Bella wrinkle her nose in disgust. She can hear Riley laughing behind her and she glanced behind her at him, only to see him already grinning at her. “I’ll eat a squirrel with you,” he promises with a dramatic wink that has Victoria rolling her eyes.

“You’re the worst,” she says, glaring at him before looking at Victoria with pleading eyes. “Tell him he’s the worst,” she says and Victoria obediently, only to make them shut up, looks up at Riley and repeats the words. Riley pouts at her, feigning hurt, and Bella puts on a burst of speed before she has to witness them getting physical. Having to hear it was enough to scar her, she’d didn’t need to see it too.

She loved the two of them more than anything, but she didn’t like knowing how their moans sounded.

She follows Bree’s scent and finally catches up to her, knowing she’ll have to eat a dumb squirrel or have Bree tease her about it for weeks. Maybe it’ll taste better if she pretends it’s literally anything else. Bella highly doubts that it’ll work but it’s worth a try regardless.

The breeze shifts and Bella freezes when it brings a new scent with it, something vaguely familiar that brings a pang of pain through her chest that leaves her gasping. Bree stops mid step, feet leaving deep grooves in the dirt and spins to look at Bella, frowning. Her nostrils flare and Bella knows she can smell whatever, whoever, it is that Bella had.

Bree skids to a stop when she’s right next to Bella, fingers lacing through hers, anchoring her. “What is it?” She whispers, pressing into Bella’s side, eyes darting around their surroundings as they both listen to Victoria and Riley stop a foot behind them. “I think,” Bella murmurs, voice no higher than a breath, “that it’s someone I knew when I was human.”

Bella and Victoria stare at each other for a few seconds before Bella squeezes Bree’s fingers twice and Bree let’s go of her, scrambling up a tree until Bella has to concentrate to see her between the thick branches. Bree liked to wrestle with all of them, play fighting, but they all knew she wouldn’t be able to actually hold her own in a fight, not yet.

James had made sure Victoria knew how to fight and she had made sure Bella and Riley knew how to fight. Bree was still in the beginning of her “training” and the three of them would be too invested in making sure she was safe than actually fighting.

So up a tree Bree went.

Bella, Riley, and Victoria waited in tense silence as the visitor made their way over to them. Bella was reminded of another time with other vampires, surrounding her in a tense circle. Bella allowed her body to ease into her hunting crouch, vaguely aware of Riley and Victoria doing the same.

Bella counted to 678 and then she could see the vampire flying through the trees, a tiny thing with short black hair and a face so familiar that Bella turned to stone in her surprise. Bella knew that face, knew how one side of the mouth would rise before the other when she smiled, how her eyes sparkled with mischief when she was teasing. The person froze as well when their eyes met and skidded to a stop so suddenly that Bella straightened with a growl, teeth bared.

Alice Cullen froze, gold eyes wide as she stared at Bella, lips open in a silent “o” and Riley snarled, Victoria echoing it.

“No,” Bella gasped, momentarily lost in memories of her human life, of Alice being her best friend, of nights spent together laughing and watching bad movies.

Alicealicealicealice.

But if Alice was here, did that mean -? Bella couldn’t even finish the thought without feeling sick. Victoria, who knew her better than anyone, and easily recognized the look of panic on her face, easily pulled Bella’s body behind Riley, who immediately took on the position of bodyguard.

“The rest of them?” Victoria asks, brows raised, calm and collected. Alice stood up straight, eyes trained on Bella, “Only me,” she says, and Bella believes her. Alice wouldn’t lie to her about this, Bella is sure of it.

“Why are you here, Alice?” Her name burns on the way out and she allows a vindictive stab of pleasure when Alice flinches.

“Edward is on his way here. I had a vision of him finding you and attacking him” – a jab of her chin at Riley – “and I figured I owe it to you to stop him.”

Victoria stepped closer to Riley immediately, eyes darting around the woods like she expected Edward to come flying out of them. Alice winced when Bree hopped down from her tree and curled herself around Bella, arms wrapped tight around the older girl in comfort.

Alice took a step back and swallowed hard, eyes going to Bella again. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, voice low and quiet, “I should have fought him harder.” Bella stayed silent, her throat constricting and eyes burning and limbs quivering, and she knows that she’d be having a panic attack if she was still human.

Alice shakes out her hands and sends Bella a small smile, taking a small step back that Riley mirrored, his teeth still bared, less hostile now though.

“You’re happy, I can see that. Their all better for you than we ever were. I’ll make sure none of them bother you or try to look for you.”

She was gone before Bella could even say anything and she let out a shuddering breath before Victoria and Bree had her in their arms and Riley was curled around them, holding her together with their love and acceptance.

She was okay, she knew, because she had them. She has her family and they’ll always be there for her.


End file.
